Wal-Mart initially began its operations in 1945, when Sam Walton leased a ‘Ben Franklin’ franchise variety store in Newport, Arkansas. After relocating to Rogers, Arkansas in the early 1950s, Sam Walton’s ‘Ben Franklin’ became ‘Walton’s 5 & 10’. By 1962, Walton found himself the chain owner of 11 different Walton’s stores across Arkansas. He then decided to rename the chain ‘Wal-Mart’, after himself. On October 31, 1969, after further expansion across the state, the chain was incorporated as Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Three years later, Wal-Mart was approved and listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

In April 1983, the Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. opened its first Sam's Club store, a membership-based discount warehouse club, in Midwest City, Oklahoma. In 1985, their stock was being traded on the Pacific Stock Exchange (PSE). By the company's 25th anniversary, in 1987, there were 1,198 stores nationwide, employing 200,000 associates, with sales of $15.9 billion. In February 1988, Sam Walton stepped down as the CEO of Wal-Mart, and was succeeded by David Glass. The same year, the first Wal-Mart Supercenter was opened in Washington, Missouri. The supercenter contained everything found in a regular Wal-Mart discount store, along with a tire and oil change shop; optical center; photo processing lab & portrait studio; and numerous small outlets like banks, cellular phone stores, hair & nail salons, video rental stores, and several fast food restaurants.

Wal-Mart was able to enter the international market by opening Club Aurrera in Mexico City in 1991 and a Wal-Mart store in Puerto Rico the following year. On April 5, 1992, Sam Walton passed away, and was succeeded by his eldest son, S. Robson Walton, as Chairman of the corporate board of directors. In 1996, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. began trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSE). The following year, the company replaced Woolworth on the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Also, this same year, the company had its first $100 billion sales year, with sales totaling $118.1 billion.

By 1997, the company was the top employer in the United States, employing 680,000 associates. In 1998, Wal-Mart launched its Wal-Mart Television Network – an in-store advertising network showing commercials for products sold in the stores, trailers for upcoming movie releases, and news updates. By 1999, Wal-Mart employed 1,140,000 associates; making them the largest private employer in the world.

The Sam's Club includes the warehouse membership clubs in the United States, as well as samsclub.com. These stores primarily provide hardgoods, softgoods, economy-size grocery items, and selected private-label items under the Member's Mark, Bakers & Chefs, and Sam’s Club brands. The International segment includes various retail stores and restaurants, including discount stores, supercenters, and Sam's Clubs that operate outside of the US.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. operates in the Discount, Variety Store market, and remains the leading firm of that industry. Its main competitors are: Target Corp., Costco Wholesale Corp., Family Dollar Stores Inc., Dollar Tree Stores Inc. and BJ’s Wholesale Club Inc. The latest reports indicate that Wal-Mart is fighting 38 different state and federal lawsuits filed by hourly...

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...Evana (3712655) Tutorial 4
WAL-MARTSTORES, INC.
Wal-Mart is the largest retailer in the world, founded by Sam Walton in 1962. It focuses on discount and low prices of various products, even with a branded product. Entering into a globalization era, Wal-Mart has used technology advances in order to improve its business efficiency.
SWOT ANALYSIS
There are a lot of strengths that Wal-Mart has due to its great success in doing a business. Since Wal-Mart offers many job opportunities to people with or without college education, it becomes the largest employer in the United States. $288 billion in sales has been achieved due to its aggressive growth strategy. Global market is also one of the strengths as it offers some branded products recognized in worldwide. Incredible logistics system, the largest trucking system, is one of Wal-Mart's competitive advantages. They are able to ship merchandise from any of their numerous distribution centers in order to provide the cheapest and most efficient route. A satellite network system allows sharing sales data with suppliers, distribution centers and the company's wide network of stores. The ability to cut prices on some products and a friendly-helpful customer service are great advantages for...

...﻿BRIEF INTRODUCTION
Wal-Mart is a company based in North America but has become the largest retailer and is larger than any other retail chain in the world. It is clear that Wal-Mart is growing and gaining international power at an alarming rate. Wal-Mart journey from humble beginnings in the 1960s as a folksy discount retailer in the boondocks of Arkansas to a global retailing juggernaut in 2008 was unprecedented among the company of the world: Sales were expected to exceed $400 billion in fiscal 2009.
Wal-Mart provides general merchandise: family apparel, health & beauty aids, household needs, electronics, toys, fabrics, crafts, lawn & garden, jewelry and shoes. Also, the company runs a pharmacy department, Tire & Lube Express, and Photo processing center as well.
There are also many secondary issues surrounding the Wal-Mart Corporation and its large growth. It is the largest retail company in the United States and has been ranked number one on the Fortune 500 Index by Fortune Magazine. Wal-Mart has four parts to their corporate strategy.
1. Dominance in the Retail Market
2. Expansion in the U.S. and International Markets
3. Creation of Positive Brand and Company Recognition
4. Branch Out into New Sectors of Retail
In recent years, Wal-Mart is very active in the...

...﻿Wal-Mart Case study analysis
Submitted by: Sarfaraj Heranja
Roll No.: 33
Submitted to: Prof. Karan Shashtri
VRIO framework of Wal-Mart
Capabilities
Valuable?
Rare?
Hard to Imitate?
Support by organisation?
IT investments and systems
Y
N
N
Y
Economies of scale
Y
N
N
Y
Relationship with suppliers
Y
Y
Y
Y
Distribution system
Y
Y
Y
Y
Low price offerings
Y
Y
Y
Y
Culture
Y
Y
Y
Y
Core competencies:
Relationship with suppliers:
WalMart known for their supply chain management and this becomes possible because of their relationship with their suppliers. So it is valuable for them and rare also and supports by their logistic department.
Distribution system:
Distribution plays major role in WalMart’s low cost offerings. Because of their effective distribution network they can provide low cost products. So it is valuable for them and rare also and supports by their logistic department and marketing department.
Low price offerings:
WalMart’s main strategy is to provide low cost offerings to their customers and so it is their core competencies.
Culture:
WalMart’s value, thriftiness, hard work, innovation, continuous improvement makes the whole culture of organisation and because of their culture they can formulate and apply strategies.
Value chain analysis
Firm Infrastructure:
WalMart have2485...

...Comparing the financial performance between Wal-Mart and Amazon by the metrics :
Return on Equity Ratio(ROE):
This ratio demonstrates how efficiently the business is utilizing and deploying the equity, either invested in the business or generated by the business, to generate profits.
ROE= Net income/ avg shahloder equity
ROE in Wal-Martstores is: 2.726840403
A ration of 272.6% would show the business is earning $2.73 in pretax or operating profit for each $1of equity employed in the business
ROE in Amazon is: 0.171580749(2009)
A ration of 17.2% would show the business is earning $0.172 in pretax or operating profit for each $1 of equity employed in the business
It shows the percentage of profits earned for each dollar of equity in the business. This is essentially the return for the money and time business owners and their investors have invested in the business. Further, the higher return on equity ratio is the better. As it shows the Wal-Martstores ratio is higher than the Amazon's this indicate that Wal-Mart is better than Amazon in this metrics.
Return on Assets ratio (ROA):
This ratio demonstrates how efficiently the business is utilizing and deploying business assets to generate profits (not sales but overall operating profits).
ROA = Earning before interest / average total assets
ROA in...

...Wal-MartStores, Inc.
1) Please describe the sources of Wal-Mart's Competitive Advantage in discount retailing!
The global player Wal-Mart operates in 14 different markets all around the world, serving 176 million customers every week. Today, the second biggest company of the world, concerning turnover which amounts to 312,427 million US-$, categorizes its operational facilities into five divisions. Among those divisions are the Wal-Mart discount stores, offering convenience and low-priced goods. Wal-Mart supercenters are the biggest stores, being open 24/7 hours and employing a workforce of 350 people, selling all kinds of groceries and general merchandise at the lowest possible price. Wal-Mart neighborhood markets are specified in offering pharmaceuticals and fresh produce groceries such as diaries and meat. The fifth category, the so called Sam's club stores are the biggest members-only stores, offering goods in large volumes.
Wal-Mart started to build up its stores in smaller cities having a population ranging from 5000-25000 inhabitants, where hardly any other competitors were located. Consequently, consumers stopped driving to other cities to do their shopping, but started to shop at...

...Evaluating the Financial Health of Wal-MartStores, Inc.
Wal-MartStores, Inc. is a discount variety business that began small and has grown into a worldwide multibillion dollar industry within the forty eight years of operation. Providing a brief history, analyzing the financial statements, performing an industrial comparison and trend analysis, this paper will evaluate the financial health of this corporation. (Walmart Corporate, 2010).
History
Wal-Mart was established in 1962 by Sam Walton, a 1940 University of Missouri economics major. The first store was opened in Rogers, Arkansas offering a variety of merchandise for consumers. Mr. Walton’s strategy of opening locations in small towns and offering consumers a wide variety of products at low costs was compelling and successful. The company became incorporated on October 31, 1969 and went public in 1970. By 1991, the company had become international and a multibillion dollar business. (Walmart Corporate, 2010).
Industry and Economy
Currently, Wal-Mart has businesses within 15 countries including the United States. They employ over 2.1 million individuals worldwide. The Wal-MartStores, Inc. is comprised of three business segments. These segments are Walmart U.S.,...

...Study Case Wal*martStores, Inc
1. Sources of Wal*Mart's competitive advantages in discount retailing After a detailed analysis of Wal*Mart's main departments it is obvious that they have many competitive advantages in comparison with their business rivals. Wal*Mart has developed to a leading and fast growing company with a huge market value of $ 57.5 billion. Their average 20 year return on equity is 33% and their compound average sales growth amounts to 35%. Sales per foot² is nearly $ 300,00, while the industry average is $ 210,00 per foot². The total sales volume increased from $ 16 billion in 1987 to $ 67 billion in 1993. The annual earnings went up comparatively. In 1987 the total earnings amounted to $ 628 million and in 1993 the total sum was $ 2.3 billion. Wal*Mart‘s 5-year average corporate performance is among the best. It has the second highest earnings/share growth, the highest sales growth, the third highest return sales, return on capital and debt to capital ratio and the highest return on equity. These performances give them the chance to remain ahead of its competitors. A further huge advantage of Wal*Mart is that their results don't depend on one format. Despite the rapid growth and the good results they don't lay back. They strive for sales of $ 84 billion, opening 100 new...

...Description of the sources of Wal-Mart’s Competitive Advantage in discount retailing
2. The future sustainability of Wal-Mart’s position in discount retailing
3. Diversification into the food industry
Appendix 1 – 'Cross- docking technique'
List of Literature
1. Please describe the sources of Wal-Mart’s Competitive Advantage in discount retailing.
In 1962 the first Wal*Martstore founded by Sam Walton opened in Rogers, Arkansas. Over the following years Wal*Mart became very successful in the United States and later on the largest retail chain, with a market value of 214 billion US$ and the largest company by sales worldwide in the year 2007. Nowadays Wal*Mart employs more than 2.000.000 people (balanced 2008) and each week about 100 million customers visit Wal-Mart's US stores.
This success story is based on several strategical aspects which will be explained in detail below. Sam Walton developed an unusual but effective strategy, which leads to a competitive advantage in discounting against the other discounters; for example Kwart or Target.
First of all it is important to know that Wal*Mart owns different types of stores who facilitate distribution and appeal to various consumer groups. Among those divisions are the...